Always
by Voldy Is My Homie
Summary: Ten 'I Love Yous', ten drabbles. Multiple parings.
1. months

**Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon**

* * *

It was two months exactly into his second school year when he noticed her. She had long blonde hair that was swept up into a ponytail that swished when she walked and she wore a sweater even when it was warm outside. He and Prongs were sitting by the lake with their pants legs rolled up, feet dipped in the water with hands tossing pieces of bread to the Giant Squid.

She walked by, ponytail swishing and stumbled over a rock in the ground. It was the curse that she shouted as she fell that made him turn around.

After that he wished he would've done something like put a hover charm on her or run towards her, just so that she would see him. But he didn't and she fell hard onto the ground, scraping her hands raw. Cursing much more than he'd ever heard a girl their age curse, she picked herself off the ground and dusted the dirt off her hands and knees before heading back towards the castle.

She hadn't even looked at him, but he already liked her.

.

.

It took one month for him to find out all he could about her. Her name was Marlene McKinnon and she was a Ravenclaw with a mouth like a sailor and a temper to match. She liked the color purple and she hated the color brown. She was also friends with Lily Evans, which gave him the perfect reason to be around here: he was simply following James, who was looking for Lily. Nothing more and nothing less.

.

.

It was sometime into their third year when he finally spoke to her. They were in Hogsmead and James had Lily trapped in a corner of Honeydukes. Marlene was cursing under her breath about idiot Ravenclaws when she dropped her bag of goods.

This time, he was fast enough. With a quick wave of his wand her bag stopped mid-fall and as she bent down to pick it out of the air he slid over and offered her the look he used when he wanted to charm people.

"I'm Sirius Black."

"I'm Marlene McKinnon."

He smiled at her, a smile he was sure would win awards.

"Would you like to go get something to drink with me?"

He was so sure she was going to say yes with that sweet expression and that wide smile. That is, until she spoke.

"Piss off, Sirius Black."

.

.

Finally, in their fifth year she started being a decent person around him. She only cursed at him occasionally and sometimes she even brought Lily around (of course, this only happened a few times, thanks to James). She even let him cheat off her once or twice.

And then, after two months of him trying to work up the courage to ask her out, she finally asked him. He was mortified. Him, the alpha male getting asked out by a girl. It was wrong; it was backwards and most of all it was embarrassing.

So of course he said yes.

.

.

On and off again they were, for years. It wasn't until they managed to last three straight months in their seventh year before he uttered it, those three words he swore he'd never say.

And she promptly punched him in the arm and said she wasn't ready for that. So he waited.

.

.

And he waited so long that they finally left school and were working for the Order before she said it. They hadn't dated in a long time when one day at headquarters she swept into the kitchen, ponytail flying. He was sitting there playing a card game with Remus and of course this didn't matter to her. She grasped his face, bent down and kissed him so hard that he couldn't breathe (not that he would admit it of course).

"I love you and don't you damn well forget it. I'll see you in two weeks."

And just like that, she swept out.

.

.

They dated for two more months and those were the best months of Sirius' life.

And then, deep in the middle of June he was over at James and Lily's playing with Harry when the news came.

Marlene McKinnon was found dead in her living room, the Dark Mark over her house.

.

.

He couldn't remember the days after her death, even to his dying day. He had been to drunk and too devastated to remember.

He didn't snap out of it until Dumbledore appeared at his door, with those knowing blue eyes and wrinkled face.

He couldn't remember crying like he did then ever in his life.

.

.

He meant it until the day he died. There wasn't a day he didn't wake up feeling as if something was missing, because something was. There wasn't a day where he wasn't constantly aware that she wasn't there.

And it didn't stop until the moment he died.

* * *

_I seem to cry at everything now days, even this. _


	2. minutes

**James Potter, Lily Evans and Harry Potter**

* * *

James Potter did not fall in love with Lily Evans the minute he saw her. He did not hate Severus Snape the minute he saw him. Neither or these things happened until Lily Evans stood up to him and left with the greasy git behind her.

Because even at eleven he was a little heartbreaker and obviously Lily's heart wasn't breaking and she wasn't leaving Snape for him.

So, the minute that the compartment door slammed shut behind them he vowed to get Lily Evans for himself.

.

He tried to corner her in the common room every night during their first year. She left him with a few choice words after a few seconds every time, leaving to go sit with Marlene McKinnon.

He did this every night well into their second year. The biggest breakthrough came during the fall of their third year when instead of leaving right away she swept her red hair off her shoulders and gave him a stare that seemed to pierce his soul.

"You have one minute a week to talk to me. Other than that, I want nothing to do with you."

He kept her there for the full minute every week even though she thoroughly ignored him every time.

.

Things got worse between him and her as they got older because of that slimy little git Snivellus. James wasn't sure why he didn't like Snape though he attributed it to many things, some including: his hair, his clothes, the fact that Lily liked him, his nose and Lily were just a few reasons.

They both hated each other, so they cursed each other the minute that they saw each other.

But it always seemed that James was blamed by Lily.

That only made James hate him more. That and the fact that Snivellus got any amount of time with Lily and James still only got a minute.

.

Then they started their fifth year and she bumped his time up to two minutes. Not to mention all the minutes he got to see her when she was talking to Remus or when Sirius was hanging around Marlene.

And then he turned Snape upside down in front of everyone. He was having so much fun until Lily told him to put Snape down, but he did it for her.

When Snape spit that word out at Lily all James could see was red. He thoroughly wanted to rip Snape limb from limb and throw him to the Giant Squid. He didn't though. Because at that moment he also realized that he loved Lily Evans with all his heart.

He didn't want to admit it but he was so happy when that day came that she stopped spending all her time with Snape and she started spending more time with her kind, with Gryffindors because this meant that he now got to spend more time with her.

.

In their six year Lily made a huge jump to letting James speak to her for six minutes at a time.

The biggest difference however was that this year she listened to him. He even got her to laugh once or twice.

.

And then the summer before their seventh year he got the letter telling him he was Head Boy and Lily was Head Girl. He was so excited that he rushed to Sirius' flat singing about how he would get to spend time with her and this year he would make her like him.

.

He was good to his word and soon Lily Evan's was his.

.

He was sick with worry every time Lily got send out on a mission. He would pass the time pacing back and forth; back and forth watching the clock with bated breath. Every minute that passed that she was out there drove him crazy. It was like a piece of him was missing and he didn't know where to find that piece.

It wasn't until she stepped through the front door of headquarters and he scooped her into his arm did he feel alright.

.

They got married at the end of 1979 and when Lily stepped up to him and said 'I Do' he felt like he could throw himself off the top of the highest building and fly.

.

He had never been more worried the night that she gave birth. Back and forth he paced in front of their bedroom door. He could hear Lily screaming and the soothing voice of the midwife and it made him worry so much that something would go wrong.

The minutes dragged by and he was sure that the baby should've already been born with the bedroom door flew open and there stood the midwife with a tiny bundle in her arms.

That was the first time James Potter fainted in his life.

.

He cherished ever minute he had with Harry, never missing the opportunity to sweep him into his arms and muss up his black hair. So, when he learned that Voldemort was after them he vowed that he would die before someone hurt his family.

.

He knew that he didn't have his wand and he was defenseless but he was ready to fight Voldemort with his bare hands before he did nothing. He saw the bright green streak flashing towards him and he couldn't move, couldn't dive. He couldn't even get the words he wanted to say past his lips.

.

He knew exactly where he was when he appeared in the forest, Lily's hand clutched tightly in his and with his best friends standing beside him. If he could've cried he would have at the sight of his son, his seventeen year old son ready to sacrifice his life to save the people important to him; just like he himself did all those years ago.

And he took his place beside him and walked with him towards the end. The sight of Voldemort did not make him angry, it simply made a deep sadness spread throughout his chest at the thought of all the families that had been torn apart and for the life that was about to be lost.

As the green light rushed towards Harry he uttered the words he wanted to say the night he died.

"I love you."

And then he disappeared once more into the unknown.

* * *

_I cried again._


End file.
